Monday, 22 February 2010

"I do," came the response, followed by a long pause. The speaker was not a bride or groom giving a matrimonial pledge, but an experienced and affable cabin crew member with British Airways. The question: do you not feel your working conditions are actually, well, quite good?

She added: "But then we've fought for that. We've always tried to stick by that ... tried to keep the standard up."

True enough, and therein lies the inexorable dilemma facing British Airways, an airline that is floundering like no other as a result of the seismic changes that have hit aviation in recent years. Unfortunately for its customers, this internal struggle will now be played out at airports across the country, for cabin crews have voted, once again, to strike. Their grievances, as opposed to the grievances often erroneously attributed to them by union leaders at Unite, centre on reductions to staffing levels, compromises to quality of service, and that old favourite – intimidation by the management at head office...